Episodes

  • Mud Talks 36: Revisiting Passive Solar Adobe & The National Ambient Energy for Buildings Research Symposium with Quentin Wilson

    Mud Talks 36: Revisiting Passive Solar Adobe & The National Ambient Energy for Buildings Research Symposium with Quentin Wilson
    Dec 29 2025
    In our thirty-sixth Mud Talks podcast, we speak to passive solar adobe specialist and Adobe in Action board member Quentin Wilson on the topic of the recent National Ambient Energy for Buildings Research Symposium which took place at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, NM - almost 50 years after construction began on the Sundwellings.
    Show More Show Less
    38 mins
  • Mud Talks 35: Adobe Owner Builder Paul Mallory on the "Volunteer Work Day" Experience at Adobe in Action

    Mud Talks 35: Adobe Owner Builder Paul Mallory on the "Volunteer Work Day" Experience at Adobe in Action
    Oct 28 2025
    In our thirty-fifth Mud Talks podcast, we speak to adobe owner builder Paul Mallory on the topic of the “Volunteer Work Days" he has begun offering in support of ongoing Adobe in Action owner-builder projects.
    Show More Show Less
    31 mins
  • Mud Talks 34: Instructor Issac Logsdon on the "Horno Design & Construction" Field Workshop Experience at Adobe in Action

    Mud Talks 34: Instructor Issac Logsdon on the "Horno Design & Construction" Field Workshop Experience at Adobe in Action
    Sep 2 2025
    In our thirty-fourth Mud Talks podcast, we speak to Adobe in Action field instructor Issac Logsdon on the topic of his recent “Horno Design & Construction” workshop which took place in Abiquiu, NM with a group of eight students.

    In addition to his teaching at Adobe in Action, Issac is the Assistant Program Director for Cornerstones Community Partnerships. With deep family roots throughout Northern New Mexico, learning traditional building skills has been a way to reconnect with the land-based traditions that have skipped a generation in his family. Issac has worked on adobe and stone preservation projects at Pecos National Historical Park, Fort Bowie National Historic Site, Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, Joshua Tree National Park, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Death Valley National Park, various projects on BLM land, and in communities throughout Northern New Mexico. He also teaches in the Adobe Construction Program at the Santa Fe Community College.
    Show More Show Less
    36 mins
  • Mud Talks 33: Debora Barros & Siena Leone-Getten on their "Intro to Adobe Preservation with Pat Taylor" Field Workshop Experience

    Mud Talks 33: Debora Barros & Siena Leone-Getten on their "Intro to Adobe Preservation with Pat Taylor" Field Workshop Experience
    Jun 20 2025
    In our thirty-third Mud Talks podcast, we speak to Debora Barros and Siena Leone-Getten from the Pratt Institute Historic Preservation MS Program on the topic of Adobe in Action’s recent “Intro to Adobe Preservation with Pat Taylor” workshop which they attended in Mesilla, NM with a group of eleven students. When asked why the preservation of adobe buildings is a special experience for Historic Preservation students, architect and Professor Debora Barros explained that there is more common ground between the two fields than one can expect. At Pratt Institute’s Masters in Historic Preservation, theory and hands on practice of adobe preservation have been harnessed as a rich pedagogical tool to promote a variety of learning outcomes:
    • Adobe (and other earthen) buildings are among the oldest in the world, with many featured as highly significant heritage across the globe, potentially becoming the subject of work of our graduates focusing on architectural conservation.
    • The hands-on experience of adobe conservation highlights the significance of traditional building crafts, fostering interest in this career path, potentially mitigating the incremental loss of knowledge transfer and subsequent loss of qualified workforce which has been a long-standing concern in the field.
    • Adobe preservation fosters a deeper connection to the land, to local, regional and ancestral practices that are beneficial holistic experiences. Processes of making build student’s confidence and problem-solving abilities. This fits within the tradition of Pratt Institute as a School of Arts and Design.
    • Both Historic Preservation and the preservation of earthen buildings are inherently sustainable. Historic Preservation is a field of advocacy for the retention and adaptation of the built environment for the benefit of society and future generations. The synergy between preservation and sustainability in light of the climate imperative can be leveraged as a powerful catalyst to mitigate the effects of climate change.
    • And finally, both Historic Preservation and earthen buildings are fields underpinned by advocacy efforts. In our age, characterized by a material culture of planned obsolescence, preservation of the potential offered by existing buildings and the fight for a return to a healthier, regional building culture that can acknowledge the wisdom of earthen construction can be seen not only as advocacy, but as acts of resistance.
    Debora Barros is an architect and Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute. She has been practicing Architecture and Preservation for over 18 years with experience in New York, United Kingdom and Brazil. After completing her Master of Science from the Historic Preservation Program at Columbia University, with focus on materials conservation, Ms. Barros has worked extensively on preservation and adaptive reuse projects such as the Guggenheim Museum, the Park Avenue Armory and the New-York Historical Society. Her passionate engagement in Historic Preservation straddles Architecture of the Modern Movement, such as leading educational tours in Brazil on behalf of the non-profit DOCOMOMO_US, and Conservation and Maintenance of Archaeological Sites, where her research focuses on the preservation of traditional construction techniques and building crafts, and their translation into contemporary construction practices.

    Siena Leone-Getten is a recent graduate of the Historic Preservation M.S. Program at the Pratt Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment. She hopes to one day work on the preservation and interpretation of historic buildings within parklands.
    Show More Show Less
    38 mins
  • Mud Talks 32: Ben Loescher on the LA Fires & Rebuilding with Adobe

    Mud Talks 32: Ben Loescher on the LA Fires & Rebuilding with Adobe
    Mar 12 2025
    In our thirty-second Mud Talks podcast, we speak to architect and Adobe in Action board member Ben Loescher on the topic of the recent Los Angeles fires and the role that adobe might play in the rebuilding process.

    Ben Loescher is a founding Principal at Loescher Meachem Architects, where his work focuses on the reuse of existing buildings and the founder of Adobeisnotsoftware, an earthen education and advocacy initiative.
    Show More Show Less
    41 mins
  • Mud Talks 31: Earth USA 2024 "Poured Clay Studio in Tucson" & "Getting Cob through the Inspection Process in North Carolina"

    Mud Talks 31: Earth USA 2024 "Poured Clay Studio in Tucson" & "Getting Cob through the Inspection Process in North Carolina"
    Feb 12 2025
    In our thirty-first Mud Talks podcast, we listen to Joe Silins and Stephen Hren deliver their podium presentations at the Earth USA 2024 Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Download the accompanying PDF research papers here:
    • Joe Silins: Play, Toil and Ritual: Building an Experimental, Poured Clay Studio in the Covid19 Era
    • Stephen Hren: Getting Cob through the Inspection Process: My Experience in North Carolina
    Joe Silins is the Owner of Tierra Buena Home and Garden, LLC, which is an Arizona-based general contractor specializing in strawbale and earthen construction, and small-scale real estate development. Joe received an M.S. in Urban Planning and a B.A. in Studio Art from the University of Arizona.

    Stephen Hren is a natural builder, inspector, writer, teacher, husband and father living in Durham,
    North Carolina. He currently teaches cob classes at Mud Dauber School in Silk Hope, NC.

    Earth USA 2024 was the 12th International Conference on Earthen Architecture & Construction hosted by Adobe in Action. More information about the conference can be found at www.earthusa.org.
    Show More Show Less
    40 mins
  • Mud Talks 30: Earth USA 2024 "Robotic Nubian Vault Construction"

    Mud Talks 30: Earth USA 2024 "Robotic Nubian Vault Construction"
    Jan 21 2025
    In our thirtieth Mud Talks podcast, we listen to Ronald Rael deliver his podium presentation "Robotic Nubian Vault Construction" at the Earth USA 2024 Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Download the accompanying PDF research paper here.

    Ronald Rael is a trained architect, activist, design technologist, multi-generational rancher, and traditional builder. His work blurs the borders between architecture, art, technology, land-based practices, and social justice. He writes books, forms startup companies, advocates for human rights at the U.S.–Mexico border, creates software, invents novel materials and new forms of construction, and designs buildings as an applied research enterprise. His work often combines indigenous and traditional materials and processes with contemporary technologies to speak to the contrasts, contradictions, and complexities of othered subjects, ranging from people to materials, and places, in modern society. His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, The Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, The London Design Museum, LACMA, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Renwick Smithsonian American Art Museum. He is the Chair of the Department of Art Practice and Eval Li Memorial Chair in Architecture at the University of California Berkeley

    Earth USA 2024 was the 12th International Conference on Earthen Architecture & Construction hosted by Adobe in Action. More information about the conference can be found at www.earthusa.org.
    Show More Show Less
    22 mins
  • Mud Talks 29: Earth USA 2024 "Building Momentum: Creating a U.S. Earthen Masonry Standard"

    Mud Talks 29: Earth USA 2024 "Building Momentum: Creating a U.S. Earthen Masonry Standard"
    Dec 27 2024
    In our twenty-ninth Mud Talks podcast, we listen to Ben Loescher deliver his podium presentation "Building Momentum: Creating a U.S. Earthen Masonry Standard" at the Earth USA 2024 Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Download the accompanying PDF research paper here.

    Ben Loescher is a founding Principal at Loescher Meachem Architects, where his work focuses on the reuse of existing buildings and the founder of Adobeisnotsoftware, an earthen education and advocacy initiative. He has acted as author of portions of the International Building Code sections on adobe masonry, and recently initiated the recent effort to create international design standards for earthen masonry through the Masonry Society.

    Earth USA 2024 was the 12th International Conference on Earthen Architecture & Construction hosted by Adobe in Action. More information about the conference can be found at www.earthusa.org.
    Show More Show Less
    21 mins